Baldur Brönnimann has built a reputation for his innovative programming and his mastery of complex contemporary scores. He regularly conducts the major orchestras and new music ensembles in both the UK and Europe, working closely with many of today’s living composers.
In the 2007-2008 season, he turned to opera for two major productions in London and Norway. He is also a regular visitor to the orchestras of Australia and New Zealand and in October 2008 he was appointed as the new Principal Conductor of the Colombian National Symphony Orchestra.
In Europe, Brönnimann has conducted an enormously wide and eclectic range of repertoire in many of the contemporary music festivals, including Italy’s Settembre Musicale, the Berlin Ultraschall, the London Spitalfields Festival, Helsinki’s Music Nova, Stockholm’s New Music Festival and Cologne’s MusikTriennale, with groups such as London Sinfonietta, Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Modern and Ensemble Intercontemporain. Highlights of the coming season include concerts with the London Sinfonietta to mark their 40th Birthday Concert at the South Bank Centre, his return to Settembre Musicale for a Birtwistle programme with RAI Turin, and a return to Porto for two performances of Stockhausen’s Gruppen. He also makes his debut at Zurich’s Tage für Neue Musik with the Ensemble Laboratorium.
One of the highlights of Brönnimann’s 2007-2008 season was his debut with English National Opera, conducting Olga Neuwirth’s highly original and demanding adaptation of David Lynch’s Lost Highway, which received extensive press coverage and critical acclaim. He also made his debut with the Bergen Philharmonic conducting Saariaho’s L’amour de Loin at the Bergen Festival 2008 and looks forward to returning to Bergen for two performances of Haas’s Melancholia in 2009, following its 2008 premiere with the Paris Opera.
Outside the contemporary series and festivals, Brönnimann can also be found conducting orchestras across the world in characteristically eclectic programmes, working with soloists such as Brett Dean, James Ehnes, Håkan Hardenberger and Michael Collins. He regularly conducts the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and looks forward to his first subscription concerts with them in Edinburgh and Glasgow in May ’09. He is also a regular with the Auckland Philharmonia, with whom he conducted two Beethoven programmes last summer.
Brönnimann is committed to his work with young musicians and in recent seasons has worked with the Australian Youth Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and with other conservatoire ensembles. He is always eager to incorporate educational elements into his engagements and his presentation skills have won him great acclaim all over the world.
Brönnimann trained at the Basel Music Academy, before holding a fellowship at the UK’s Royal Northern College of Music where, among others, he worked with Kent Nagano and Sir Edward Downes.
Baldur Brönnimann is represented by Intermusica.
November 2008 / 443 words. Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material.